MANUAL BOOK for Beginner KAVAL Players + SCORES

Author: Todor Prashanov
Published in 2005
Printed by: Music Printing House
ISBN: 954-405-091-4
Format: 20 x 28.5 cm/ 7.8 inches x 11.2 inches
Pages: 130
Language: Bulgarian

Kaval is one of the most popular Bulgarian traditional instruments. It looks simple on the outside, but it has a great deal of possibilities.
The themes this manual includes are the following:
- historical information on kaval
- description of the instrument
- pitch, tone range and register specificities
- technique and expression abilities
- body position and way of holding the instrument as well as fingering
- tips on fingering and sound producing
- useful score/note material!!!!
- schemas and pictures
Although the book is written in Bulgarian, it makes a good self-help reference material.
It abounds with useful exercises excellent for the beginner players. The book can be perfectly used as a score book.

Kaval
The kaval is an instrument widely used in the Balkans (Macedonia, Kosovo and Metohia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Greece, Turkey), and there are similar instruments on the Caucasus, in Asia and North Africa. The kaval is the favorite instrument of shepherds, who have preserved it in these regions up to present-day times.
While in the past it was almost entirely a shepherd's instrument, today kaval is widely used in folk songs and dances as part of ensembles or solo.
Unlike the transverse flute, the kaval is fully open at both ends, and is played by blowing on the sharpened edge of one end.